Legal updates, new research, interesting ideas for students-- past and present-- of LER Prof. Michael H. LeRoy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Welcome, also, to friends who are curious about employment and labor law.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Targeting White Supremacy in the Workplace

I have just completed a research paper, "Targeting White Supremacy in the Workplace." Here is the paper's abstract.

I welcome comments. If you want a copy of the draft paper, please contact me at m-leroy@illinois.edu. Here is a summary.

Targeting White Supremacy in the
Workplace

Michael
H. LeRoy

Resurgent white supremacy is leading to segregation in some workplaces and local labor markets, long after Title VII and executive orders dismantled Jim Crow. My research conceptualizes a new way to apply the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. Much of the law— passed to combat a white terror campaign to deny blacks and their political supporters rights equal to those of white citizens— has been struck down by court rulings. The surviving part, codified in 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), is limited by its narrow text, applying to two or more people who go in disguise on a highway to commit racial depredations. Using extensive legislative history, I show that Congress heard testimony from ex-Klan members about the group’s strategy to boycott black workers and segregate them in a caste system that approximated slavery. A major floor speech by Rep. Luke Poland emphasized congressional intent to interdict this economic segregation. I show the relevance of this history by analyzing four current and recent cases involving white supremacist planning and commission of acts to drive blacks, Mexicans, a Jew, and a Navajo from their workplace or a specific labor market. I demonstrate how these cases fit the demanding textual requirements to state a claim under Section 1985(3). In response to a growing number of conspiracies in a work setting to attack minorities, this study provides victims, lawyers, and courts a new way to confront today’s resurgent and aggressive white supremacy movement.

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Personal Bio

Published extensively on antitrust in professional sports, immigration and employment, strikes and lockouts, voluntary and mandatory arbitration, employee involvement teams, academic freedom, and labor law implications stemming from national emergencies

Testified before the full U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources

Consulted at the request of the President's Council of Economic Advisers in connection with the Taft-Hartley labor dispute involving Pacific Maritime Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union

Advised the President's Commission on the United States Postal Service (this bi-partisan commission adopted my recommendations for the use of final offer interest arbitration with various postal worker unions)